Please turn with me now in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10. Our sermon this morning will come from Jonah chapter 4. So in a moment we'll turn to Jonah chapter 4, but first to get a little bit of context, let's look at Hebrews chapter 10. I'll be reading Hebrews chapter 10 beginning in verse 32 through the end of the chapter, verse 39. Hebrews 10, 32-39, and then in a moment we'll turn over to Jonah chapter 4. First Hebrews 10, 32-39, hear now the word of the Lord. But recall the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made a spectacle. both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated. For you had compassion on me and my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith. But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Amen. The Holy Spirit here admits that the Christian life is sometimes not a joy ride. He says, first of all, in verse 32, that we endured great struggles with sufferings, or at least the church that he is writing to did. Some of us can relate to that. that coming to faith in Jesus was something what Rosario Butterfield called a train wreck. It ruined our lives. He also says that there are those of us who have experienced suffering by our sympathy and compassion for others who are suffering. You know how parents would love to take pain from their children, but can only stand by and watch? and offer little comfort. Some of us have known the sorrows of an expensive faith where our religion has a price. Some of us have known the sorrows of an expensive friendship where we've borne one another's burdens. But in all this suffering, the Holy Spirit admonishes us in the final verses to not cast away our confidence. We need to endure, even though it's hard, even though it hurts. And so the Holy Spirit, in order to urge us to believe and to the saving of our souls, sets before us in verse 37 a reason, a motive. He says, for yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and not tarry. Friends, we're waiting for Jesus, and he'll soon be here. So hold on. Hold on till Jesus comes. Turn with me back to Jonah chapter four. We've been doing a short summer series through the book of Jonah. We've come now to the end, Jonah chapter four. The end of summer. School year is upon us. There's new faces among us. You get to hear the last of the series you didn't hear. Jonah chapter four. We'll actually pick up the reading in chapter three, verse 10. We'll read down through the rest of the chapter. And we will this morning then complete our summer series through the book of Jonah. Jonah chapter four, beginning with 310. Here again, the word of the Lord. Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. And God relented from the disaster that He said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord and said, ah Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish, for I know that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, one who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, oh Lord, please take my life from me. for it is better for me to die than to live. Then the Lord said, is it right for you to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. But as morning dawned the next day, God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind, and the sun beat on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself and said, "'It is better for me to die than to live.' Then God said to Jonah, "'Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?' And he said, "'It is right for me to be angry even to death.' But the Lord said, "'You have had pity on the plant "'for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city in which are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left, and much livestock? Amen and amen. In the second chapter of the Fellowship of the Ring, which is entitled A Shadow of the Past, Gandalf begins to unfold a history of the reign to Frodo. It's not actually in the minds of Moria, Peter Jackson messed that up. And there in the warmth of the hobbit hole, Gandalf explains how it is passed into Bag End. And when Frodo grasps the significance of that moment between Bilbo and Gollum, in those caves beneath the mountain. Frodo exclaims in frustration, what a pity that Bilbo didn't kill the creature Gollum. Gandalf marvels at that choice of word. That's an interesting choice of word for Gandalf replies, it was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. And Gandalf explains how pity is often that fulcrum on which life and death flex, that pity is often that edge, that hinge of judgment. And then he concludes, the pity of Bilbo may one day rule the world, which is not only a shadow of the past, it is a foreshadow of the future, spoiler alert. Friends, we have Jonah chapter 4, a shadow of the past in which Jonah learns face to face from the sovereignty and goodness of God, his work's not his, his life's not his. You see, it is God's pity that runs the world. That's the good news for us, for our congregation, for our ministry to the city, is that God's pity and compassion is what's running this world. So let us pity others. Let us pity one another. Let's look at the text together. Notice, first of all, that chapter 4 is flowing immediately out of chapter 3. In the opening words, we read that it displeased Jonah exceedingly, that it, that pronoun, has as its antecedent the mercy of God in chapter 3, verse 10. God saw their works. that saving grace of repentance. He saw that the city of Nineveh had turned in thought, word, and deed away from their evil way. They were a transformed people through the three-day preaching of Jonah. And when God sees their works, when he sees their repentance, God relents from his disaster. He forgives. He has mercy on them. And it is this forgiveness, it is this mercy that displeases Jonah exceedingly. And he is angry. Have you ever been angry with God? Have you ever argued with God? Jonah is not the only prophet to have this experience. Jeremiah didn't want the job and tried multiple times to get rid of it. Until at last, there was a burning in his bones that forced him to preach. Habakkuk didn't want the job and said, Babylon's a bad idea, God. Let's come up with a new plan. Even John the Baptist would wonder, am I in the right job? Is this what the Lord would have me do? But Jonah is not only not unique as a prophet, he's not unique as a Christian. How many have wondered, is this the wrong marriage? How many have wondered, is this the wrong job, the wrong city, the wrong church? And it displeases us exceedingly to have God running our lives. ruling over us. We don't like the way he runs our life sometimes. We become very angry. I didn't want this. I don't want to be here. And we argue with him. Does this resonate at all for you? Then hang on, resolution is coming. You see, to resolve these feelings, Jonah enters into a level of honesty that we seldom dare deal with. Jonah embraces the anger, and out of his exceeding displeasure, the prophet of the Lord, in verse two, prays to God. When you're angry with someone, what's your normal response? Do you start up a conversation? Jonah does. Some of us prefer the silent treatment. Some of us prefer the workaholic treatment. I'd rather be busy with my job, I'd rather ignore you. But not so Jonah. He prays to the Lord and says, ah Lord, was this not what I said when I was still in my country? Back in chapter one, when you first came to me and first gave me this commission, Jonah admits, I fled previously to Tarshish because I knew you were a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness, one who relents from doing harm. When Jonah heard from God that he was to go up and call out against Nineveh, Jonah immediately connected the dots. If I preach to that city, they'll repent. And if they repent, God will relent. Jonah knew the character of God. He knew Exodus 34. He knew that God had revealed himself as gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness. But not so God's prophet. He is quick to anger and short in love. He is not gracious or merciful. The contrast between God and his prophet reminds us not only of the goodness of God, but his sovereignty, that God has used such an unwilling prophet to do such a wonderful work, that Jonah, under the sovereign grace of God, should save sailors at sea, should himself be saved from the belly of the fish, and should save all the city of Nineveh. It's true that perhaps Jonah was the most profitable preacher of all the Old Testament. Seeing a revival that shook a city of 120,000 persons, George Whitefield wouldn't measure up to such a preacher as this. And yet lurking in the heart of this preacher is an awareness of the goodness and the grace of God and a desire that it not be extended to the city in which he lives, in which he has been called to. Jonah is exceedingly displeased and angry, not only because God is running his life, but because he believes God is ruining his life by showing mercy and pity to Nineveh. Is that a struggle that's familiar? Have we wrestled with the fact that God more often than not is at work among the people we weren't aiming for? That God is more often than not bringing into our church maybe the people we're not as excited about. Is it perhaps that we have a vision for our church and we want it done our way? Some 20 years ago, an experienced minister told me, Noah, what Jesus does with my ministry is his business. And that's echoed in my heart and mind for 20 years. What Jesus does with our ministry is his business. and it will be a reflection of his character. It will be a gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness work. This is what we need to apply to those hard providences. When we look upon the sorrows and the sufferings of this life, we are so often angry with God because we are not honest with God. We look at something we don't want, we look at something we regret, we look at something that is hard and full of sorrow, and we doubt the goodness of God. Instead of staring into that struggle and saying, you know why this exists? Because he loves me. Because he is abundant in love. This is a hard thing to learn, and Jonah doesn't want to learn it. In verse three, he says, therefore now, O Lord, therefore now, now that Jonah has come to this moment in time, a moment he cannot get out of, Now that he has come to this place in history in which Jonah has finally grasped what he thinks is the will and plan of God for the world, therefore now, now that I have seen your mind, now that I know the heart of God, that it is enormous with love and with mercy, please take my life from me. For it is better for me to die than to live. Does that resonate with you? Please don't make light of these verses. I know a friend who was struggling with these thoughts. He was a pastor, and he was wrestling with the desire to take his life, and he had a friend who said to him, I don't think you want to give up your life, I think you want to give up your ministry. And that's what he did. Beloved, these are hard providences and we don't trip lightly through the life of Jonah or those who are around us that are struggling with the shadows of death. But we have to have something greater than the grave. We have to have something that gives life to life. Something that inflates our souls when they are empty and weak. We have to have God. And God himself comes to Jonah in that moment and he stares into the abyss. Have you done that? Do you know people you love? who are struggling, and have you sat with them in the ash heap? The Lord does not abandon Jonah. The Lord does not attack Jonah. The Lord comes to him and whispers to him, speaks softly to him. The Lord remembers his own proverb. A gentle word turns away wrath. Jonah is exceedingly displeased. Jonah is angry, and he's angry with God because God is full of love. But the Lord says to him, is it right for you to be angry? Are you in the right, Jonah? Are you more wise than the Almighty? Are you more loving than the great God of heaven? Is this not our struggle? that we struggle with so many sorrows in this life because we think we know better than God. And we sit in so much darkness because we doubt the expanse of the love of God. And it's God's pity and love that is running this world, even as we look at it and say, no, no, you're ruining this world. Now, for Jonah to understand the moment that he's living in, and to grasp what he sees as God ruining the world in spite of his love, we have to understand Jonah's frame of mind for the next portion of the passage. You see, in verses 5 and following, we're told this little story about a plant. And a plant is a parable. in this story. I don't mean that it didn't historically happen, I mean that it is a moral for Jonah to learn an important lesson. Beginning in verse 5, we're told that Jonah went out of the city. Can you imagine this? Here is one of the most successful celebrity preachers of all time. He would have surely been given the biggest, most beautiful house in all of Nineveh. He would have been offered the finest pay package. He would have had the golden parachute to end all golden parachutes. And while all the city is celebrating their deliverance from destruction, while all the city is singing his praises to the heavens, Jonah, the prophet of God, has preached. We believed and were saved. Jonah went out of the city. He can't handle it. He doesn't want to see their salvation and he doesn't want to hear their celebration. Out of the city he goes and up onto a hilltop and he sits on the east of the city. He is again going away from the presence of the Lord. For Jerusalem is west of the city. Just like chapter one, when he departed from the presence of the Lord to escape the love of God for Nineveh, having delivered the love of God to Nineveh, he now tries to escape. And he sits on a hilltop, builds himself a small shelter, a booth, a tent, and in its shade, he sits back for the 37 days of probation that remain. You remember he preached 40 days and Nineveh will die. three days of preaching and he's out of town. He sits on the hilltop and he looks down over the city, waiting to see if the wrath of God will come. Now we have the Lord God, verse six, prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it would be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. Notice first the verb that the Lord God prepared a plant. This is the same verb we saw with the fish in chapter one, verse 17, that the Lord is working in time and space and creation and history in providence so that at just the right time, a little seed is in just the right spot of ground in order to send out the roots, in order to grow up and to shade Jonah at just the right place in time. God's goodness in display in the personal details of Jonah's life. But notice also the insecurity of Jonah. Having just moments before been exceedingly displeased and very angry, he is now rejoicing with great joy. Rich Mullen sang, with our hells and our heavens so few inches apart, we must be awfully small. and not as strong as we think we are. Jonah is very small because his hell and his heaven are the width of a plant apart. When he sees the pity and mercy of God on the city of Nineveh, he is exceedingly displeased. But when he sees the shade of the plant over his head, he is rejoicing with great joy. Don't we love the sovereignty of God when it works out to our well-being? Let me put it in the words of Jonah. Don't we love the sovereignty of God when he calls us to preach peace and prosperity to the reign of Jeroboam II, that wicked king of the northern kingdom of Israel? Man, isn't it a good job when the church is growing? Isn't it a good job when the ministry is fruitful? And we rejoice with exceedingly great joy. God's been good to his people. But what if he's good to somebody else? That's the challenge before Jonah. That God is running the world and when he runs the world to Jonah's benefit, to his comfort, to his convenience, Jonah rejoices with exceedingly great joy. Don't we? Last night, some of us got together. There was lots of good food and hours of laughter. We rejoiced with great joy. Is this not what we want in life? For God to run the world in such a way that we rejoice with exceedingly great joy. But morning dawned. Here we are. Morning dawned. The next day, God prepared a worm. This is the third time he prepared a fish, he prepared a plant, he prepared a worm, and the worm damaged the plant so that it withered. God's running the world, damaging the plants. And as it happened, when the sun rose, God, here's the fourth one, prepared a vehement east wind, and the sun beat on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. Here is Jonas sitting in the wilderness alone, far from the presence of the Lord, alienated from the city he saved, and he is suffering. He is suffering the loneliness of his sin. He is suffering the isolation of his pride. He is suffering the hard providences of God in which his plant in whom he rejoiced has been eaten up, withered down, and disappeared. And in its place, the sun which God has caused to rise and the wind which God has breathed out is sapping his life from him. And as he sweats his soul out onto his skin, he wishes for death for himself. He wishes death for himself. In this pronoun, the author embeds Jonah's vision of history, of God's plan. Jonah sees clearly, and let us be honest in rear view mirror, Jonah sees rightly. He grasps that through his ministry, Assyria, that evil empire, will live on. And Israel will not. Because Assyria will come conquer Israel. And Jonah doesn't want to live in that world. Jonah doesn't want to live in a world where the Northern Kingdom falls and Assyria rises. It is better for me to die. I, who preached the prosperity under Jeroboam II, have now preached the salvation of Nineveh, and I don't want to live in that world, where the enemies of God thrive and His beloved people fall. It is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, is it right for you to be angry about the plant? In the Old Testament, the vine, the plant, were images and metaphors for Israel. And Jonah gets it. God gave him this plant. Israel, the northern kingdom. And God, through Jonah's ministry, is killing the plant. And Jonah says, yes, it is right to be angry, even angry to death. Lord, let me go. I don't want to live in a world where there's no Israel. Lord, let me go. I don't want to live in a world where Assyria wins. What kind of plan is this, God? You're ruining the world. You're getting it wrong, God. Read it right. This is what's crying in Jonah's heart. How about yours? Notice the answer that the Lord gives. But the Lord said, you have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored. Jonah didn't raise up Israel out of Egypt. Jonah didn't carry them across the Red Sea or the Jordan River or through the wilderness. Jonah didn't cast out the Canaanites and plant this plant in the land of promise. Jonah didn't preserve them or give them prosperity in the reign of Jeroboam II. Nor have you made it grow. No, it came up from the hand of God, it endured by the hand of God. And if it comes up in a night and perishes in the night, It is all according to the plan and purpose of God. Dear saints, there is no one in this room who planted this church. It's 130 years old. We weren't here. And there is no one in this room who has made it grow, save God alone. You didn't make this. I didn't make this. If we have grown, we have grown by the grace of God for the glory of God. We don't plant, we don't grow. God gives the increase. God establishes churches. And some of them come up at night and go down at night. For God will have pity on whom he has pity. And God will have compassion on whom he has compassion. This is the calling of God's prophet. to preach the pity and the mercy of God to a people, to be an instrument of grace for the salvation of sinners. And it is right for Jonah to pity the plant. God's creatures are lovely and beautiful. It is right for Jonah to pity Israel. They are God's people. But it is also right for God to pity Nineveh. And in verse 11, God says, should I not pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern their right hand from their left and much livestock? Should not God pity a great city full of cattle? It's a famous ending. Why does he end with the cows? Well, for two reasons. One, God loves his creation. God loves his plants. He loves his cows. He made them. And he pities his world. He wants them to prosper and do well, to be fruitful in the multiplot. But secondly, and more importantly, because you'll remember from chapter three that the cows are wearing sackcloth and crying out to God. So he includes them in his statement of pity. As the creation in Romans 1 is groaning, longing for the salvation of God, as the cattle in Nineveh in Jonah 3 are groaning and longing for the salvation of God, so God pities them. How much more then does God pity the 120,000 persons who dwell in darkness and do not know their right from their left? Who do not know good and evil. I looked it up this morning. Do you know what the population of the city of Cambridge is? 118,500. Pretty close to 120,000. And can we not say that nearly 120,000 people here in the city of Cambridge do not know their left hand from their right? Who do not know up from down, right from wrong, male from female? who do not know the ways of God, who is full of mercy. And should he not pity Nineveh? There's a great temptation in all preachers, a great temptation in all churches, that we should cherish and love our own ministry and long for it to grow and prosper, to say, I have done well, But should we not pity those around us as well? There's a great temptation among Reformed Presbyterians to rejoice in our presbytery and in our denomination. But should we not pity our own neighbors as well? In 1979, Kenneth G. Smith stood before an assembly of Reformed churches. And he told them, brothers, before we save the nation, let us try saving our neighbors. Should we not pity others because God has pitied us? Do we not taste the pity of God in this? Let me give you one last taste. Jonah sees in the unfolding of history that the salvation of Nineveh, the going on of the life of Assyria will certainly result in the death of Israel, the northern kingdom. And Jonah loses hope. If that church doesn't survive, then I don't want to either. If that kingdom of Israel doesn't endure, then I don't want to either. What is Jonah not seeing? What does Jonah need to see? What do you need to see? He need not die. Israel need not die. Because Jesus died. Beloved, you need not die. nor fear death. For Jesus died that we might live, that his church might live, that even in death and in exile, even in Assyrian captivity, God's promises would be yea and amen. This is the sovereign grace of God at work in the story of Jonah, that we should recognize the power of his pity and his compassion to run this world in such a way that we see the ebb and the flow and the gain and the loss and yet are reconciled to this truth. He will pity his people and have compassion on his own. Let us do likewise. Let us pity others. Please pray with me. Our Father in heaven, we do thank you for this beautiful little book that has given us such instruction in your heart for the world. We thank you that you are abounding in mercy, not only for those who have been called already, but for those who are yet to be called. And we pray that you would make of us as a congregation, as individuals and as families, instruments and mouthpieces for the good news of Jesus Christ in this place, that we would love this city, and that we would love your work of salvation in this city. that you would prolong our days, that this congregation would prosper in your hand in order to bring about the blessings of peace in this place. Our Father, we ask your blessings in this way, in Jesus' name, Amen.